Protest erupts after Alfred Olango memorial taken down

Rodney Stowers, a U.S. Army combat veteran, sits vigil at the memorial for Alfred Olango on Oct. 4. The candles, signs and photos were set up where Olango was fatally shot.

Rodney Stowers, a U.S. Army combat veteran, sits vigil at the memorial for Alfred Olango on Oct. 4. The candles, signs and photos were set up where Olango was fatally shot. (Peggy Peattie / San Diego Union-Tribune)

A dispute over the dismantling of a memorial in El Cajon dedicated to Alfred Olango resulted in eight arrests Monday night.

A small peaceful group headed to downtown San Diego Tuesday night to continue protesting the El Cajon police shooting because, they said, their home base — Olango’s memorial — is gone.

The tribute was erected in a strip mall off Broadway near North Mollison Avenue where Olango, 38, was shot and killed by an El Cajon police officer. It featured a tent, chairs, barbecues, posters, photographs and candles.

The location was a landmark for those looking to grieve and a sort of meeting spot for many who chose to protest in the wake of the Sept. 27 shooting.

Everything was removed over the weekend. El Cajon police Lt. Rob Ransweiler said the property manager of the shopping center and individual owners had become frustrated, and said recurring demonstrations and the presence of protesters were hurting business.

People who had been using the space were asked to vacate the property, Ransweiler said. He did not know who specifically made the request. Protesters removed the memorial soon afterward.

Rumbie Mubaiwa, who was at the location the night the memorial was taken down, said police informed her and others that the property owner had requested they leave. She said they were told that if they didn’t take down the memorial, it would be taken down for them.

On Monday, two people showed up at the spot about 5 p.m. and became upset the memorial was gone, police said.

By this time, the property owners had hired a security company to watch over the shopping center. Police said the two people visiting the space verbally assaulted a security guard, who then asked them to leave.

They refused, and used their cellphones to inform others of what was happening. As more people showed up, the two people were put under citizen’s arrest and the El Cajon Police Department was called.

When El Cajon officers moved to take the two individuals into custody, others reportedly assaulted the officers. Police didn’t say how.

Ransweiler said about the same time, three officers saw a man pull out a gun. Police said protesters saw it, too, and tackled the man who was holding it. He dropped the weapon and someone else left with it.

Mubaiwa, who was also at the site on Monday, said an altercation between protesters and police broke out when an officer called one woman a derogatory name and later threw her to the ground to arrest her. Several people nearby tried to pull her away from the officer and they were hit with batons, she said.

An unlawful assembly was declared and everyone who refused to leave the area was arrested, Ransweiler said. They face charges that included trespassing, refusing to leave an unlawful assembly and delaying or obstructing a police officer. One person was arrested on a felony warrant for assault with a deadly weapon.

On Tuesday night, about 15 protesters took their message to downtown San Diego, marching through Horton Plaza and past the San Diego Convention Center, where the annual International Association of Chiefs of Police conference was wrapping up.

Protesters said they took to the streets in San Diego in part because police in the past few days have made it difficult to protest in El Cajon.

Trailed by three San Diego police officers on bicycles, the group chanted Olango’s name, as well as “No justice, no peace. No racists police.”

One man held a sign that read, “Stop police brutality” while another grasped a sign that said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

There were no reports of violence or arrests.

Earlier in the day, Mubaiwa, 27, and Tia Loper stood on the sidewalk outside Los Panchos taco shop. A police car was parked where the memorial once stood. Nearby officers said they’d been instructed to keep protesters away.

Lyndsay Winkley

Two police cars park where a memorial to Alfred Olango used to sit.

Two police cars park where a memorial to Alfred Olango used to sit. (Lyndsay Winkley)

Other patrol cars were parked nearby and a surveillance tower had been erected in the parking lot. Several visitors to the shopping center and employees were seen approaching the officers to give them hugs, or deliver drinks.

Mubaiwa, of El Cajon, said she still plans to come to the location, and will talk with officers about where she can legally be.

“If I've got to sit on the sidewalk with a sign by myself, I'll be sitting there,” she said. “I said I was going to be here from day one and I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to let them silence me.”

The women said they and a core group of people who have been consistently protesting since the shooting are still seeking many of the same goals.

They want to see Officer Richard Gonsalves, who fatally shot Olango, terminated, arrested and indicted and see District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis out of office. They also want an independent investigation of the shooting.